Feature

Time for the U.S. to take standards more seriously

Robert E. Parks

A couple of weeks ago, I was in the library to look up some information on a German DIN optical standard. What I inadvertently found gives a little clue to various attitudes about standards and how seriously they are taken. In many fields of technology, optics included, we in the U.S. tend to take standards rather lightly. Others, such as the Germans and Japanese, find that they can do business much more efficiently by relying on a broad and rigorous set of standards.